Furniture construction



G. A. BAIO FURNITURE CONSTRUCTION Filed Oct. 17, 1957 lNvEN TOR BY 5 E ATT GEORGE A. BAIO April 18, 1961 .lllhillIlIIIIllln United Statt-.s Patent 1O 2,980,482'` FURNrrURE-'coNsrRUcrloN Ge'orge Alfonso Baio, New Hyde Park, N.Y. i (4S-50 38th St., LongvlslandV City 1, N. .)v Y

Filed Oct. 17, 1957, Ser. No. 690,671

1 Claim. (Cl. S12-257) of a furniture construction wherein it is possible to' quickly assemble and equally as quickly lto disassemble the major component parts of such furniture construction, namely, the side panels (which also includes front and back panels) and the corner posts.

Briey stated, this construction involves the use of a plurality of side panels and a plurality of corner postsna plurality of headed fastening members secured to said side panels and a plurality of keyhole .slots formed. 1n said corner posts for engagement with said fastening members. Y

An important feature of this invention is the fact that it is ideally suited to assembling wooden side panels with metal corner posts. The headed fastening members may simply be a plurality of wood screws driven into the side edges of the wooden side panels. The metal posts are tubular in cross-section and the keyhole slots are formed in their side walls, preferably in at least two side walls adjacent each other. The heads of the screws are accommodated within said tubes and the shanks of said screws are accommodated by said keyhole slots.

-Another important feature is the locking element which prevents disengagement of the wooden side panels from the metal corner posts. This locking element is simply a bar which is secured to the bottom edge or edges of one or more of said wooden side panels and transverse slots are formed in theV tubular metal corner posts to receive said locking bars.

An important advantage of this invention is its ilexibility or versatility ir that it may readily be adapted to many forms and articles of furniture. For example, it may be applied to desks, bureaus, bookcases, china closets, chests of drawers, and other cabinet constructions.

furniture. For example, corner vpos-ts ymadein accordance with this invention may beV used without change Afor I desks and bureaus, Vanities and other -articles of :furni- ABy ythe same token, side ture of generally like size. panels made in accordancelwith this invention may' be Y embodied in any of these last namedarticles of furniture or in any other articles of furniture `of corresponding size.

imposed by size requirements. y

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which:

Still another-important advantage of this invention is the fact that the several parts madein accordance therekwith may be interchangeably used in various articles vof f- In short, both the corner posts and the side panels are completely interchangeable within the limitations Patented pr. 18, 1961.

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plywood with suitable veneering, appropriate to the parf The head of .the screw passes through the larger end ticular article of furniture under construction.- For example, a panel. with walnut veneer may be suitable for onetype ofV furniture but not for another, while teak veneer might be 'more appropriate for a particular type of furniture than for another type. However, the several panels would nonetheless be interchangeable in the sense that theyV might be used without change in more than one form of furniture.

The type of wood which may be used is purely' a matter of preference and does not affect Ithe essential principles of the invention. The corner posts may also be made of any suitable metal, preferably 16 gauge cold rolled steel tubing, or brass tubing or extruded aluminum. It is possible by the extrusion process to provide the corner posts with longitudinally extending formations, such as ribs or grooves, to enhance their appearance and at the same time to provide adequate structural strength. The corner posts may, of course, be -suitably finished to harmonize or contrast with the nish of the side panels.

It will now be observed that fastening elements 3 are secured to the side edges of side panels 2. Since these side panels are made, preferably, of wood, the most suitable fastening elements for theA purposes of this invention are screws, since they may be driven directly into the side panels -by conventional means.

It will now be noted that the head of these screws isl not driven into direct abutment with the side edge 0f the panels. Instead, it is spaced therefrom to the extent of the thickness of the walls of the tubular corner posts. The reason for this will shortly become apparent.

Each tubular corner post is provided on at least one side wall with'at least one keyhole-shaped slot 4. Preferof such keyhole-shapedvslot, namely, the upper end, but it cannot pass through the smaller endk thereof which is the lower end. Consequently, itis possible to assemble the side panels to the corner posts by interengaging their respective screws and 'keyhole/shaped slots.

To prevent accidental disengagement of said screws( from said keyhole-shaped slots and thereby preventing disengagement of the side panels from the corner posts, locking means are provided. Said locking means com- V prises at least one locking bar 5l which is secured to the bottom of at least one side panel 2, and at least one transverse slot fformed in at least one corner post.

Preferably, Aeachwall of each corner post in whichkey- .the side panelsY are secured to Vthe corner posts; A sim- ,ple inethdof attaching these lockingv barslis -by means of screws'q-YS.v `The locking barsy engage transverse slots' 6 and prevent vertical'movement of the side panels relative to the corner posts. In this way disengagement of screws 3 from keyhole-shaped slots 4 is prevented.

The article of `furniture shown in the drawing is yprovided with a top wall 7 which isvattached by conventional means and forms no part of the present invention. The type of furniture shown possesses fou-r corner posts and three side panels, one ofwhich may be deemed either the front or back panel of said furniture. This is purely illustrative and should not be construed as limiting the invention in any way whatsoever.

The foregoing is illustrative of a preferred form of this invention and will be modied, as desired, within the broad principles of the invention and the broad scope of the claim.

I claim: Y

An article of furniture having a plurality of side panels and a plurality of tubular corner posts, keyhole slots formed in said posts and headed fastening mem- -bers secured to said panels, said fastening members being in detachable engagement with said keyhole slots to secure the panels to the posts, said tubular corner posts being metal tubes which are substantially rectangular in cross-section, said keyhole slots being formed in at least two adjacent walls of each said metal tube to accommodate the screws of atleast two said wooden side panels disposed at rightv angles to each other, said tubular metal corner posts being provided with transverse slots formed in the same side walls in which the keyhole slots are formed, said transverse slots being located adjacent the bottom edges of said wooden side panels, and locking bars beingdetachably secured to said bottom edges of said wooden side panels and being in engagement with said transverse slots to prevent disengagement of said wooden side panels from said tubular metal corner posts.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 408,278 White Aug. 6, 1889 795,957 Cartland Aug. 1, 1905 997,567 Linden July 11, 1911 1,314,271 Kopp Aug. 26, 1919 1,401,041 Chipperfield Dec. 20, 1921 1,709,504 Vance Apr. 16, 1929 

